Duke slams Rowley

PUBLIC Services Association president Watson Duke yesterday slammed the Prime Minister for describing some public servants as being lazy and the first to complain when their pay is late.

Dr Rowley made these comments while handing over 200 motorcycles to the police at the St James Barracks on Wednesday.

In an audio clip posted on social media, Duke took a page from UNC MP Dr Roodal Moonilal when he criticised Rowley in the past.

“Shut your stink mouth,” Duke told Rowley.

He also claimed Rowley was a bully who did not think before he spoke.

Duke said he was “shocked, perturbed and upset” by Rowley’s statements about public servants. He countered that Rowley is “turning his failure for managing the public service outwards, away from him and placing it upon the public service.”

Duke said before Rowley seeks to remove the plank from public servants’ eyes, he should remove the plank from his own.

Rowley’s comments hurt all of the country’s 80,000 public servants to the core, Duke said. He asked what Rowley’s statements meant to “that mother, that father, that good worker who gets up at 4 am to come to Port of Spain for an 8 am job and then leaves work at 5-6 pm.”

Rowley, he said, was telling these public servants that “your efforts are not recognised.”

Instead of criticising public servants, Duke said Rowley should ensure their concerns are addressed.

He claimed that in several government departments, staff are told to bring their own toilet paper from home and are not being provided with basic sanitary conditions to do their jobs.

Duke also alleged there is a lack of reagents for blood tests at health centres and of vital drugs in the health sector.

In Tobago, he charged, efforts are being made to hurriedly construct a fire station in Roxborough and the fire station is Scarborough is not fit for occupation.